Sky Fast-tracks Trump ‘Toon in SD

Sky will premiere the animated Donald Trump satire, Our Cartoon President, within days of the US — but it will be in SD and available only on-demand to SoHo subscribers.

SoHo will screen the Showtime series later in the year but Sky says currently there isn’t room on the premium drama’s linear schedule to accommodate it.

And because of Sky’s failure years earlier to invest in HD as the future of TV, it still lacks the bandwidth to offer SoHo content on-demand in HD.

Nonetheless, it deserves some kudos at least for screening President so close to its US Sunday airdate. As a spokesperson says: “Because it’s topical and timely we were keen to make it available now on on-demand for SoHo customers.”

Executive produced by Stephen Colbert and his Late Showexecutive producer, Chris Licht, the 10-episode parody will be available weekly from Wednesdays (with two episodes kicking it off this week).

The Hollywood Reporter reports the voice behind Trump is Jeff Bergman, who took over Bugs Bunny after Mel Blanc’s death.

But the trade paper’s TV critic wasn’t impressed with the series, dubbing it “fuzzy and facile” and “dated and safe in a marketplace full of Trump humour”.

Most reviewers agreed. “Watching one episode is enough to get the point,” said USA Today. “Watching nine more feels unnecessary.”

And Variety said while the series “excels at mocking media–be it Fox & Friends or Rachel Maddow–and offers brilliant glimpses of the inner turmoil and moral compromise of the people around Trump … the show has no idea what to do with Trump himself.”